Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid Set For Petit Le Mans

The Porsche works driver pairing of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas are set to make a return to the American Le Mans Series for the thirteenth running of the annual Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta.

Piloting the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid the two drivers will be joined by former Porsche-Junior and current Audi factory driver Mike Rockenfeller. It’s not the first time the trio have raced together after winning in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Rockenfeller also took victory in a Porsche-powered Daytona Prototype in the 2010 Daytona 24 Hour race.

Despite the hybrid Porsche not being eligible for points due to the technology not yet being recognised in the GT Regulations the team are looking forward to developing the car further in race conditions. “Our priorities are to further develop the hybrid technology and to optimise the fuel consumption under racing conditions. Nevertheless, I'm very interested to see how we compare to the GT2 cars,” says Timo Bernhard. “Nowhere is the competition in the GT segment as hard as it is here in the USA,” adds Dumas.

Bernhard and Dumas have taken numerous victories together including the ALMS title in the LMP2 prototype class in 2007 and 2008, the overall win at the 2008 Sebring 12 Hours, as well as three overall victories at the NÃ¼rburgring 24 hour race from 2007 to 2009.